Optical fibers have displaced copper-based connectivity in much of the traditional long-haul and metro telecommunication networks for numerous reasons such as large bandwidth capacity, dielectric characteristics and the like. As consumers require more bandwidth for consumer electronic devices such as smart phones, laptops, displays, tablets and the like the use of optical fibers for signal transmission is being considered for replacing the conventional copper-based connectivity for these applications. This is because high-speed communication among electronic devices over any but the shortest cable distances such as 1-2 meters is impractical with purely electrical cable assemblies. However, much longer transmission lengths such as tens of meters are possible using active optic cable assemblies with optical fiber as the transmission media. Active optic cable assemblies use electrical connectors for providing compatibility with an electrical port, but convert the electrical signal to optical signals such as within the connector (i.e., electrical-to-optical conversion and vice-versa) for optical transmission of signals across optical fibers between the electrical connectors on the ends of the cable. Moreover, the future transition from standard electrical protocol (i.e., copper-based connectivity) to a fully optical-based connectivity will be eased by the commercialization of active optical cable assemblies in which the conversion of signals from electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical occurs in the first few centimeters of a cable assembly such as within the connector, which may use an existing protocol such as HDMI, USB, MiniDisplay Port, or the like.
The function of converting electrical interface/protocols to suitable bit streams and faithfully launching them into optical fibers and capturing and decoding them at the receiver end requires appreciable electrical circuitry typically in the form of a printed circuit board assembly carrying laser drivers, integrated circuits, clock and data recovery (CDR) devices, trans-impedance amplifiers (TIA) and passive electrical components to name a few. With major thermal contributions from a few of these devices and smaller thermal contributions from other devices it is common to have a relatively large aggregate waste or parasitic thermal power being generated by the electrical circuitry of the active optic cable assembly that may result in premature failure of electronic devices due to excessive temperature and/or uncomfortably high temperatures on surfaces of the connector for the user. Moreover, the desire for having relatively small footprints for the active optic assemblies compounds the heat generation concerns for the assemblies.
Thus, there is an unresolved need for active optic cable assemblies with improved heat dissipation characteristics.